Nov 9th-Scrapple, Berlin Wall came down, Hedy Lamarr, the Hulk, Salt n Pepa, Nick Lachey, Sisquo, Peter Paul & Mary

0:19 Well, hello, everyone. I am Jeff, and welcome to History and Factories About Today. Today is November the 9th, and this week, it's all about the United States veterans and the military veterans that have helped serve our country so bravely and gallantly. So we're starting off today going cool. We had a really cool lady. She's a retired Navy chief, and she still serves military men and women even after she's all done. Valerie, why don't you go ahead and tell everybody a little about yourself? Oh, I would love to. So I am a 24-year veteran. retired Navy chief, hospital corpsman. And I did tours, multiple deployments, served in hospitals, on ships and with the Marines. So I have quite the experience, a lot of great memories, a lot of crazy memories.

1:10 And towards the end, I. Did 24 years. So I stayed in long enough that my older son, I could re-enlist him and do at least one tour with him. So I had the pleasure of going to Field Med, which is Fleet Marine Force with the Marines. And I was his company commander. And he was this little A1, E1. And I think he made E2. While he was there. And it was awesome because I had six battalions underneath me. And he was still in that early stages of trying to figure out the military. And he would call me mom.

1:54 And I was like, oh, that's not going to work, son. That's chief. So we graduated and I retired. And it was awesome because even to this day, we had two different experiences. I had a great time. Apparently, he didn't. And he would tell me, he'd call me up and still to this day, he'll call me up and say, chief. And I'm like, you know, I'm retired. He's like, mom, you gave me PTSD. He's like, that was a rough. But it was amazing because we got to compete against each other and it was motivating and exciting. And it's not, it's very rare that son and, you know, mom and son get to go to a training together. So it was very unique to us. And then at the end of my career, unfortunately, I had some sailors commit suicide.

2:52 And I had multiple throughout the years, sailors, Marines commit suicide and even fellow friends and fellow chiefs. And so it was rough. And I learned quickly that we didn't have the resources that we should have had. And so I decided that when I retire, I was going to Look for those resources. And that's the start of where I'm at. Oh, doing a great job at it anyway, that's for sure. Yeah. If you asked me that I would, you know, years ago that I would be here doing what I'm doing, I never imagined it. So my degree is in criminology and forensic science. So it was a complete shift. And of course my husband thought I had like a midlife crisis, um, because I went from one to, uh, to the other side, but there is so many, there's such a need for mental health, um, not just resources, but access to it.

3:52 And that became my drive. Um, but I also, you know, experienced, um, my own traumas in the military between having PTSD, TBI. I had a tragic event happen to me. And with that, when I got out, I lost my identity and I was still struggling with all of everything that happened with the military and then getting out. The military is so good at training us to to always put the mission first and, you know, putting us on the back burner and being a chief, you know, I can never let my sailors and Marines see that, you know, I dropped my pack.

4:40 And so I did what I did best with the military is, you know, trained us to do is compartmentalize. Unfortunately, a lot of what I learned, I mean, there's a lot of positive that I took over, but The compartmentalizing was one of them. And so when I jumped into this, I just, I didn't want to deal with all the trauma in my life. And so I dealt with everybody else's and did what I could to help them. And again, put myself on the back burner, unfortunately. I attempted suicide and I survived it. And when that happened, I found God. Um, and I realized he had a purpose for me that I never saw. Um, and that, um, at that point, um, that season in my life, uh, I refused to let it write my story and, um, God became the foundation.

5:42 And all this is the reason why, and. The driving force for my company, Valkyrie Consulting, and for us to work with, um, mental health resources for this population. So is that why it is so hard to transition out of the military and just because they need you to be all in at that time and they don't really have time to kind of prepare you for the future? Yeah. So, you know, considering, think about this, you got 24 years of them, you know, from the start of breaking you down, building you back up to what they want you to be and years of, you know, being the rock, being the leader and, and, um, leading your sailors and Marines, um, It's when you go to transfer out, they only give you they give you a course, but it's a speed course and it's three days. And you've got to consider 24 years of building you up to who you should be and then three years to transition you out to a civilian.

6:45 It's almost like, here you go. Best of luck, you know. So it was rough. It was rough for me. So I know you're not the only one who's picked it up to their other, basically, is it all former, um, military people that are helping the people who get out now? There's not really any resources that they offer the military. Um, so the transition from military to civilian, um, it is some veterans. Um, it is, uh, the VA, they provide you information and there's some civilian, um, military spouses so it just depends on who's teaching the course um but they're really trying to give you as much information as they can in such a short period of time to prepare you and you have to consider like getting out is scary because you know you go from one like what you know um and 24 years of doing that to that uniform was your identity to now all of a sudden now i got a be a civilian and I have to grow up and, and figure out what I want to be and who I am.

7:55 So, yeah. Well, that brings up an issue. I was going to ask you the question last round. You kind of actually already answered it, but when you 24 years, when you started, how did that end surprise you compared to what you thought it was going to be 24 years before that? Well, I gotta be honest with you. When I joined the military, I never expected to do 24 years. Uh, in fact, that was never on, on my, uh, list. It was okay. I'm going to do the five years. I'm going to get the college education. I'm going to get what I can from it. And then I'm going to just get out. And, uh, you know, at my five year mark, uh, I was like, you know what?

8:38 If I make rank, I might stay in. And then I made rank. I'm like, crap. Okay. All right. I'm going to do this. So I did another six years. Um, and every year, time I was about to come up, I said, all right, if I'm, if I make rank, I'll stay in, but I'm, I'm getting out. And then I made rank again. And I was like, I think I'm destined to stay in, like, this is just not going to happen. And after a while, I, it became my life. Like I couldn't think of anything else I wanted to do or anything else I wanted to be than to, you know, lead sailors and Marines and, and do these deployments. I I couldn't wait for deployments to come up. And my husband, he was active duty with me. And so we were never home long enough at the same time.

9:28 We were maybe home six, seven months at a time, and then one of us would go out. But my oldest son, it's kind of funny because he wasn't used to it, but he knew that if one of us were home, he was going to get spoiled. So we would be home at five, six months. And my son's like, okay, one of you have got to go. And so we're like rock, scissors, or papers. And so we just kept taking turns and going out. And, and I loved every deployment that I did. You know, it has its ups and downs, but, nobody can say that they did the, you know, the missions that we did or the experiences that we had. And it was, it was awesome.

10:09 Are the deployments easier when you have a really rock solid home base, like your husband and your kids and that kind of stuff versus like the people who are kind of scattered back home? Yeah, I think so. You know, we both knew what we were getting into. We both knew what was expected. Um, I will tell you the first time that one of us had to stay home, we're like, okay, so I'm going to be a single parent. I'll figure this out, you know? Um, but it was, it does make a difference, you know? Um, especially because, you know, after a while, you know, it became the norm and it was easy to figure out and yeah.

10:50 Granted, your husband had experience, but military spouses, I think, probably are underrated for all that they actually go through. Oh, absolutely. I always say that they're part of the military. They are the very support of what we do. And their spouses couldn't do what they do if they didn't know that they had a solid foundation back at home. Okay. We're going to keep talking about this, but we've got to celebrate today. Do you feel like celebrating food today? Let's do it.

11:49 It is National Scrapple Day. Oh, come on. You probably never even tried it. You like scrapple? Absolutely not. I've never tried it. It is disgusting to me. All right. Well, scrapple was created by German immigrants near the Philadelphia area in the late 1700s. Now it's the first pork dish that was ever created in America. Now, back then, they didn't want to throw anything away, so they took all the pork scraps and the trimmings, and they'd boil them with the bones, and they'd add cornmeal, onion, sage, and thyme. Then they'd remove the bones, and then they'd pour it into a bread pan, and then they'd wait for it to harden. Then when it came out, they'd cut it into slices and then fry it up. That's pretty much mostly used for breakfast. But nowadays, the scrapple makers, they say their quality ingredients are used, but I wouldn't trust it.

12:38 No, not today. So all you out there, Um, a retired Navy chief says, no way I'm saying, Hey, go out, get out of your comfort zone. Maybe experience, be adventurous, go out and eat some scrapple today. Don't be a wuss. Then you can let me know how it tastes. Yeah. I'm a wuss with a gag reflex. I'm right there with you. All right. Let's see what happened in entertainment on November the 9th. It was back to 1996. The number one album was the best of volume one by Van Halen. Blackstreet and Dr. Dre had their number one song with No Diggity. I like the way you work it. No Diggity. I got to bag it up.

13:18 I like the way you work it. No Diggity. I got to bag it up. I like the way you work it. No Diggity. I got to bag it up. Clint Black had their. Number one country song with Like the Rain. When I hear it, I just can't believe I never liked the rain. Like the rain, I have fallen for you. And I know just why you like the rain. Always calling for you. I'm falling for you now. Just like the rain.

14:00 The number one selling book was Desperation by Stephen King. The top movie was Ransom. Mel Gibson, he's a really rich dude. Now his son gets kidnapped. So instead of paying the ransom, he just offers a big bounty on the kidnapper's head. His wife was Renee Russo and Gary Sinise. He was the bad guy. Gary, he's a pretty good guy with the military. Oh, yes. He actually is. He's done a lot of supporting, a lot of traveling. He's gone overseas to do like, we do what's called a welfare and they come in and they Yeah, he's been amazing, and he still is.

14:40 He has a nonprofit that he supports. It was just not too long ago. He has a band. What is it? The Lieutenant Dan Band is what it's called. Yes. I think it was like Rhode Island or somewhere back there. He just played a benefit concert there. And so he's Lieutenant Dan Band. They've played in all 50 states doing benefit concerts. Nice. So do you like war movies or does that kind of trigger the PTSD? Yeah, I watch war movies. We used to, so this is kind of funny, but when 9-11 happened and we were out in, I think it was like 29 poems or somewhere else. I don't really remember. They would play at the, the base theaters, war movies, and they played Private Ryan.

15:40 You know, for us, what is that one movie with Demi Moore? G.I. Jane? Yes. For the females, they played G.I. Jane to get us motivated. So it was, yeah, I watch them. It doesn't give me PTSD. Just a lot of them, you know, just brings me back to those days. So it's nice. Did you ever cut your hair like Demi Moore? Absolutely not. I like my, my hair and I don't know what my head looks like underneath it. So not going to do it. You guys listening. She has pretty blonde hair. So yeah, you would want to see her with them. I don't know why Demi did, I guess trying to prove a point.

16:23 Yeah, it was to show that she was part of, you know, what they do and that, you know, her looks and is not what she was there for. She wanted to show that she was part of the team and equal. Well, 24 years. So you saw a lot of changes in the military regarding women and what they could do. Uh, yes, yes. You know, it's funny. Uh, when I was in college, I had to write a paper on why women should be in the military and why they should serve on the front lines and on ships. Um, And never thought that would happen. And then I joined the military and the war changed everything.

17:05 You know, all of a sudden you saw women on the front lines. You saw them serving more with the Marines. You saw them on the, on the ships. And then right before I retired, they now allow them on submarines. So a lot of changes. You agree. I don't want to get too political. Yeah, I, I do. I know there's a lot of people that feel like, You know, there's not equal playing field because of our body types and what we're capable. But I, you know, I've seen women do some crazy stuff and be able to maintain that same level of expertise with them and skill set.

17:48 See, when it comes to submarines, I have no doubt that the women can perform just as good as men. But as a dude, I know guys are gross. And I don't know about subjecting women to have to be that close to all those guys. Look, you know, I would have said that years ago. But when I was on the ships, I got to tell you, you know, females could be just as gross. There were some things in there. I was like, my mind was blown. I'm like, men would never do this. Like, what are you doing? Like, we're supposed to be females, feminists. um and no i got off that ship going i was like mind blown with what i saw.

18:31 It's kind of you know what i'm just gonna go hang out with the dudes over there and play cards or something you guys are oh yeah. The guys used to talk about us saying that we were you know they're like we thought we were bad but you guys take it to a whole new level well. That's see that's kind of like Well, let's just ask this question. What's the biggest misconception the civilian population has about the Navy? That we drink all the time. And that we, you know, that is across the board every branch. It doesn't matter. I got to tell you, when I was deployed with the Army, they put us to shame. So, but you have to consider you have these, you know, kids coming in at 17, 18 years old. performing, you know, adult, um, you know, making adult decisions, putting their life on the line. Um, we go out to sea for, you know, eight, nine months.

19:27 Now it's a year, you know, and, uh, we're a box cutting out there, you know, staying out there, just doing circles, uh, waiting and, and protecting, you know, for deployed, uh, you know, on the waters. And so when we get downtime, yeah, we're going to have a. Beer, you know, or 10. Or 10. Yeah. It depends on what they're celebrating. Um, so yeah, but that's just a misconception that that's all we do. Well, you just clear it up because you might have to go four or five months without a beer before you can have one. Oh yeah. And sometimes you go a whole year because depending on the mission, it could be a dry mission. And dry means there's no alcohol whatsoever. So, you know, by the time we get back from deployment, sometimes we're going to let loose, you know? Yeah.

20:17 And so how can they criticize the military when college students have to do it after like two months of classes? Oh, yeah. Okay. So we don't take it on a level of, you know, those college, you know, kids. But we've, I'm not going to lie. I mean, we can put down, but. At the end of the day, you know, the following day, we have a mission and a job. So I got to tell you, though, I've gone out drinking and and, you know, we can get up the next day at five o'clock in the morning or five o'clock in the morning and go PT. How we how we do it, I don't know. Because there's I look back and I'm like, I can't even have a beer or a glass of wine without having a headache. Like, how did I do that?

21:05 I was going to say that's a lot easier to do year one or two than it is year 23 or 24. Yeah, yeah. I got to tell you, the longer you've been in and the leadership roles, you tend to become, you know, leading by example. And going out and getting partying, getting drunk every night is not, you know, it became where we were babysitting. making sure our kids, I call them kids, but they're not, but they were much younger than me, but you know, our sailors and Marines are functional to, to accomplish what they need to the following day we're on a mission. Yeah. Well, I mean, let's just, I guess we can kind of use it like in a business analogy, in the business environment, which you're in now.

21:52 Yeah. Like you said, leading by example, you can't be going out to half hour with your crew every day and getting drunk and all that, and then expecting them to respond to you at work the next day. No, absolutely not. And you don't see that in the civilian sector. I haven't, you know, since I've been out and I've worked, we've gone out and had a drink or two at dinner and then we go, that's it. We do not drink the way that we would in the military. But a lot of that falls on camaraderie. You know, we build a relationship. We get very close with people that we would never, you know, talk to or didn't, you know, it just becomes, you become a brother and sister. And so building that camaraderie part of that is going out and having a couple of beers and letting loose and letting each other know that we trust each other.

22:40 We're going to take care of each other. So that camaraderie, do you still have quite a few people that you keep in contact with now that you've been out? Oh, absolutely. Um, there is a group of, um, four of us. Um, and it's funny cause we look back and we're like, we never thought we would be grown adults and incapable of raising children and keeping them alive, you know? Um, and, uh, every year, um, and sometimes every two years, depending on what we're planning out, uh, the sixth of us, uh, get together and go on a cruise or do a trip, um, to stay together.

23:20 Well, that's awesome. All right, let's see what happened in history on November 9th. You know much about U.S. General, future President Andrew Jackson? Yeah, I read a little bit about him. He led the forces, the NATO groups, to, what is it, crush the Red Sea Creeks. Right. That was 1813. For those of you who know Andrew Jackson and you know the Battle of New Orleans... Well, in 1813, though, he was just hanging out with his boys in Louisiana. See, the Battle of New Orleans, it's not going to be fought for another year. So they were just hanging out. All the fighting was being done up north for the War of 1812. Well, it just so happened that this group of home members of the White Stick Indian tribe, they showed up, and they asked him for help. They said they lived near what's Talladega, Alabama today. So they were being picked on and attacked by Indian tribes that were a lot bigger than them and had a lot more weapons. So they needed Andrew's help.

24:18 And Jackson said, ah, what the hell? We're not doing anything. So he grabbed his men, and they headed for Alabama. Then when they got there, they absolutely crushed and destroyed the red-stick, cranky Indians who were picking on the white-stick Indians. So yeah, it wiped them out. Now, see, there was a gentleman agreements of the Indian tribes down in the southern area of the United States that no matter what happens, you do not go to the white man for anything. You don't like him. You don't ask him for help. You hate the white man. That's the whole thing. So when word got out about the Red Stick Creek Indians being slaughtered by Andrew Jackson and his boys, well, that just made all the Indian tribes down south mad. So they all got together. They formed a coalition, and they were going to go down and teach the White Sticks a major lesson. So they were all full of piss and vigor and fury, and they headed down there. Well, when they got to see Andrew Jackson, he kind of thought that might happen. So they came up with this whole big coalition. They come riding up, and there was Andrew Jackson and his boys. They come up and they said, hey, what can I help you guys with? So this furious group of Native Americans said, nothing, we heard you're in town.

25:22 We just wanted to check you out and see how it's going. Good to see you. You know, we better head back home. The whole thing ended. And so the White Sticks, they actually had a very good life after that. Nobody ever picked on them again. Nice. So you probably flew in a lot of different airplanes and helicopters and all that kind of stuff over the years. Yeah, I got to in the C-130s, which, by the way, is not comfortable. And the only way they get speed is when they hit turbulence. So I used to do that. I was so. By trait, I'm a respiratory therapist, actually, because I was licensed and lead school. I was a respiratory care practitioner.

26:10 So whenever our service members had to be flown from Guam to Hawaii, we'd have to take a C-130 over. And that was a long flight. I did, I've flown in a 53. I actually did my re-enlistment on one. So it was pretty cool. Well, in 1904, the first airplane flight that lasted longer than five minutes took place. Wilbur Wright, he was able to keep a plane up in the air five minutes and four seconds. He went 2.75 miles. But you have to remember, they'd only been flying for a year. Yeah, well, that outdid the initial one that was like 12 seconds long.

26:52 Yeah, exactly. So, hey, they're making pretty good progress there. 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt. He became the first U.S. president to visit another country while he was in office. Oh, daddy, he went down to Panama. He wanted to see how the construction of the Panama Canal was going and all that kind of stuff. Wouldn't you have thought one of those presidents would have actually popped up to Canada, though? You would think. Now, I bet all you women are glad this never became popular. 1965, a patent was issued for an apparatus. Yeah, see, it would facilitate childbirth by using centrifugal force. See, a woman, when she went in to get her into labor, she'd be strapped down on her back on a circular table, and the table would spin at a high speed. And now, there were nets around it in order to catch the baby when it came out. They had their, they were the Bronskis. that husband and wife. And the biggest problem, they could never get a woman to actually test the Invent form, so they never knew if it worked or not.

27:46 But this is going to surprise you. Charlotte and Charles Blonsky, yeah, they didn't have any children. Typical. It sounds like something that's man-made. Exactly. You know, it was more Charles than it was Charlotte. But anyway, what makes this story so interesting, though, in 2023, an opera was made about it. It's called The Blonsky Device. You know what? This is one opera I might actually go listen to. You know, I actually might as well. I've never seen it, never heard of it, but it sounds crazy. And NORAD in Colorado Springs. Now, their computers detected 2,000 ballistic missiles had been fired from the Soviet Union, headed right for the United States. Bombers were scrambled. President Carter, he was told, three to seven minutes before you can issue a retaliation order. You know, everything was just going to hell. Then the just as they were getting ready to go down to DEF CON 1 and order, hey, hey, hey, chill, chill, chill.

28:43 Somebody loaded a training scenario into the computer by accident. But you actually know more about this than I do. You've had experience with NORAD and their computer malfunction. I do. So in my previous job, I was a military spouse liaison, and I would travel all over. and to different bases and talk to them and let them know like, hey, these are the resources for your service members that they might not know that are out there and this is how you access it. And so I was fortunate enough to go to NORAD and speak with them. But I don't know if you remember, we had a similar experience and this is more recently than, I think that experience was back in the 80s or 70s, 70s, 80s. But back in 2018, they accidentally sent out a tsunami alert, the National Weather Service, and didn't put in there that it is a exercise. So you had people panicking. I know we panic because it came from the East Coast on Gulf Coast and the Caribbean's. And so when we got it, we were calling our friends going, are you guys okay? Like this is, you know, and then we found out it was an exercise. And, but that previous to that was back in February, 2018 in January, 2019, um,

30:13 they sent out a false missile alert, um, to Hawaii. And that went on, I want to say it was almost an hour, um, before anybody figured out that it was just a, uh, an exercise or a false, uh, you know, a mistake, but I could tell you, we were calling our friends because we have friends that are stationed out there. And I'm like, shit, what are we. Going to do? Like, what are you going to do? Um, and then they actually put out that it was, uh, an exercise. So, uh, interesting. Yeah. It's kind of, it's kind of like, I think the guy got fired. He did. He absolutely both his chief and the, uh, the executive below him.

30:57 I think you got it. I mean, there's no way you can't do that. Yeah. No, I mean, that's it. Stay in East Berlin in 1989. Now in East Berlin, their government official Gunther Shabrowski. Now he accidentally said on live TV, the East Berliners were allowed to go into West Berlin. Yeah. Let's see what happened was he was actually out smoking a cigarette. And he wasn't there when they actually were talking about it in the meeting. And so when he came back, he just got the memo. And then afterwards, he said, yeah, they're allowed to go. But he didn't realize that they were just trying to calm tensions down.

31:39 They were still going to have to go through all these hoops and vessels and all this kind of stuff in order to jump through to try and go across. But he said it on live TV, so it got out. So all these Berliners, they started going to the gate. I said, okay, hey, he said on live TV that we can go. And more and more and more people showed up. Those poor gate guards for the East German, they're still people. But they were like, what the hell are we supposed to do? Then they started coming more and more and they started crushing him and all that kind of stuff. So finally the gate guards just said, let's just open it. So that's how the Berlin Wall fell. It was that simple. It was just a guy having a smoke. I remember that. I remember it because it was in– 80s, 90s, because 1990 is when it came down.

32:24 I remember it was on TV. And everybody was celebrating, and we were celebrating too for them. And then West Berliners, when they heard about it, saw them all gathering up. So these Berliners came across. The West Berliners, they met them all with flowers, champagne, and beer. Nice. Okay, let's talk about what you founded after, called Valkyrie Consulting. Yeah, so. I did years of working for different companies. I started off in a fortune 500 company. Um, and my experience with them was, you know, amazing. I learned so much. Um, and, um, I built military programs. Uh, I worked with startups, um, and from there, um, I actually got an accommodation from our commissioner here in the state of Florida for building a outpatient service for veterans and first responders, me and the team. And from there, I had a girlfriend who worked with me. She was a spouse of an army soldier.

33:35 And the two of. Us went back and forth saying, you know, we can do this, but we can do it better. And with our experience, we kind of took a leap of faith, built our first program together. And then from there, we said, you know what, with our experiences, we're gonna, you know, we can, we can do this. And so now it's a team of five. There's my husband, Nick Suttoth, her husband, Philip Pelletier, and Kristen. And then we have Frances Staub. She's a civilian, but she has worked with veterans for years and her experience is just, you know, is it's, it's amazing. Um, and so we got together and we built it and yeah, and we never thought that it would be what it is. Um, and we do a lot of pro bono work. Uh, so like we're working with Uganda, um, and with their mission, um, their team out there and we built their program for their it's a non-medical mental health program for both their, the.

34:47 Women and the children. And, and it's been pretty humbling to be able to provide for, you know, a country that, that can't. And we've built, I have a veteran that we're working with and we've built, we're building his company from the ground up and that's. All pro bono. And on the side, we, serve veterans and first responders and their children by, uh, just for free providing mental health resources, uh, to them, you know, anytime they need it. So, yeah. And our company, uh, what we do is, um, we. Work with active duty veterans, first responders, their families, um, through startups and expansions, uh, licensing, licensing and, uh, accreditation, uh, operational turnaround partnerships, and informed trauma. And our main mission with this is basically access to care and improving the quality of care that veterans get.

35:49 Well, let's give you a pat on the back here. You must be doing a really good job because you're a veterinarian of the year. I am. It was kind of a shock because, you know, you do your job every day and you always feel like you could do more. And I never thought, you know, this would, you know, this would happen. And between that and also winning the National Veteran of the Year in advocacy, I am so grateful for these platforms because I not only use it to, you know, to promote what I'm doing and to help veterans, but other nonprofit and veteran companies out there, I promote them as well. So this way people know that they're out there and what they're doing and who they're serving.

36:37 Well, that is really cool. Should we go see who was born on November the 5th or November the 9th? Let's hear it. Let's start off with an incredible woman that a lot of people don't know about. She's an actress. Her name's Hedy Lamarr. She was born in Vienna, Austria in 1914. Now, she was one of the prettiest and best actresses of all time. She acted from 1930 to 1958. Now, you won't know her movies from that time, but some of the men that she co-starred with were Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable, James Stewart, Bob Hope. And yeah, she was that pretty. She was just knocking. But guess this. She was very, very, very smart. Now, we're talking like genius smart. During World War II, Hedy and her music composer that she would do shows with that were live and that weren't movies, they designed a guidance system for torpedoes. And that guidance system, it's basically what GPS and Bluetooth are kind of based on even today. Yeah, she's in the Inventor Hall of Fame for it. A pretty incredible woman.

37:37 I would say so. She's set the path for not only for, you know, showing that women are capable, but for where we're at now with technology. Exactly. And it's kind of like, huh, wonder what we can do to help. You know what? We could just get these torpedoes to work a little bit better, man. It's like, wait, that's pretty cool. Now, she didn't do very good in her social life or personal life, though. She was married and divorced six times. She had one child from her second husband and two from her third child. Then after her sixth divorce, though, Hedy used her brain. She said, I'm done. So she lived the last 35 years of her life single. She didn't have enough. She died in 2000 from heart disease. She was 85 years old.

38:23 She lived a life. Yeah. Productive, too. Absolutely. You talk about having a legacy. That is one, yep. Yeah. Singer, actress, Dorothy Danbridge. She was born in Cleveland in 1922. Now, when she was a kid, she was in a singing dance group with her sisters. They were the Danbridge sisters. They were really popular around the Cleveland area and all that kind of stuff. But it became clear that, yeah, they weren't going to get any bigger, you know, just playing around there. But Dorothy, she was really pretty. So they let Hollywood take her. In 1954, Dorothy became the first black actress nominated for a Best Actress Oscar. It was from the movie Carmen Jones. I mean, what was it, Hattie McDaniel or something? They had Supporting actresses, there have been a couple of them, but Dorothy was the first best actress Oscar. She had one daughter from her first husband.

39:12 She had a daughter from her second husband. But that guy, he blew all her money. I mean, she had all this wealth built up, and then she really figured it out after three years and got rid of him, but she was broke, and then she had to go work hard. She kind of made a comeback and all that kind of stuff. That was pretty good. Sadly, though, when she got back on her feet, she died of a prescription drug overdose in 1965, only 42 years old. Oh, sad. Pop the magic dragon, live by. The sea, and frolic in the autumn mist in a land called Honolulu. So in the Navy, would the guys sing?

39:56 So there was a point where during deployments, people started doing like TikTok videos and the guys would do their, you know, their version of it. It was pretty comical. And they still do that to this day, but not randomly. Right. No, because when you see World War II movies, you know all the guys, and they're all singing songs together, show tunes. So if we were on a deployment or for the Chiefs, we've gone into what we call the Chiefs mess. We have songs, you know, the Navy song. Sure, sure.

40:41 The only reason I brought that up, because that Peter, Paul, and Mary song, Puff the Maverick Dragon, with all its connotations, we were singing that when I was in kindergarten, the whole school was singing. The Mary in Peter, Paul, and Mary, she was Mary Travers. She was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1936. She joined Peter Yarrow and Paul Stokey in 1961. Now, 1970, they were big. So they all decided, hey, this is going, we're going solo. They all thought that, yeah, that didn't work out. None of them had any success. Got back together in 1978. Mary, she had a daughter from her first husband. She had a daughter from her second husband. She married her fourth husband in 1991. She died in 2009 at leukemia from 72 years old. When you talked about PT earlier. So on the boats and all that, do they have like gyms with weights and all that kind of stuff? Or is it all calisthenics?

41:29 No, we have gyms. So, you know, I was on a big deck. I was on an LHG. And then, you know, I've gone on to like. Carriers before as well. But we have, we have nice gyms in there. Nice gyms. So, you know, our time on ships, it revolves around when the bell rings for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. PT time when we get to go to the gym. And then of course, you know, When we hit our racks.

42:10 So maybe you should be in pretty good shape when you get done with the cruise. It depends on who's going to the gym. You know, some of them, you know, you know, right before port, it was kind of funny. That was, we had a port call. All of a sudden you would see people who were never in the gym in the gym. I'm like, you're one week in the gym is not going. To help you. But, you know, it was interesting. Bodybuilder, actor Lou Frigno. He's 75. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. He lost 80% of his hearing when he was three years old. He got an infection in both his ears. Now as a deaf kid, he was constantly picked on and couldn't talk very well and all that kind of stuff. When he was 13, he started lifting weights.

42:52 Ended up training with Arnold Schwarzenegger and became a professional bodybuilder. Won Mr. Universe twice. Now on TV, he played the Hulk. Now not the Before Hulk. It was when the Hulk would turn and rip his clothes off and he was all green. That's when Lou Ferrigno stepped in and all that kind of thing. A lot of you are a little young for that. But he was actually the Hulk. He wasn't like the nowadays Hulk that's all computer generated and stuff. Lou, he married his second wife in 1980. They had one daughter and two sons. His wife, she just died in January. Now, in his prime, if you're wondering how big the Hulk was, Lou was 6'5 and weighed 315 pounds. That'd be a good PT song.

43:52 I was just laughing at your choice. Now she was born Sandra Denton. But she would become world famous simply as Peppa. Yep, in Salt-N-Pepa. Yeah, she was born in Kingston, Jamaica. She's a 62-year-old. She grew up in Queens, New York. Now, her and Cheryl James, they were actually studying nursing to school together, and they were going to be nurses. Well, they would get together, and then they decided, you know what? This nursing's kind of cool. Let's go be rappers. So Cheryl became Salt, and Sandra became Peppa. Now, they still tour if you want to go see Salt-N-Pepa. Yeah, they're still out there now. She had a son from a boyfriend. She married for a couple of years and all that kind of stuff. And they had a daughter. What's your favorite kind of music?

44:34 I listen to everything, but I would say I listen to a lot of country because I like going country dancing. I might be old, but I still love getting out there. And then Christian music. I listen to a lot of Christian music. Well, that's cool. Actor Eric Dane. He was born in San Francisco in 1972. On TV, he played Mark Sloan on Grey's Anatomy. I think that's still on the air, isn't it? It plays. It's old reruns. He wasn't a pretty good... I mean, for a civilian now, it might not... If you're... Okay. He starred in the movie called The Last Ship. Did you ever see that?

45:20 No. Oh, wait. Maybe I have. Yeah, I have. Okay. It was actually a pretty good show. It was kind of like they were up there when World War III breaks out and all this kind of stuff. So it was actually a pretty good show. I'll give it credit there. On the X-Men, he starred as Multiple Man. He was in Marley and Me, Valentine's Day. Now he was married once for 14 years and they had two daughters. He just died from ALS in February, 53 years old. Yeah, I remember that. I said, baby, I should have known by now. Should have been right there whenever you gave me love. And if only you were here. I'll tell you. Yes, I'll tell you. Any idea? Oh, yes.

46:12 98 degrees. That's right. That was Nick Lachey singing. Well, with your. I was kind of surprised you knew that one, to be honest with you. Oh, I know. Well, he dated Jessica Simpson, or was married to her, and they did that show, so I definitely know who he is. He's 53. That'll make you feel old when you remember him and Jessica together. Born in Harlan, Kentucky, and he was in 98 Degrees. They formed in 1996. They broke up in 2002. They got back together in 2012 when their solo career wasn't going so good. Rick, he has released four albums over this time. But he's more famous is what she was just talking about. Yeah, he's most known for the TV show The Newlyweds. Him and his first wife, Jessica Simpson, they were together and they were popular.

46:55 But then they divorced after four years. So he lost his wife and his television show because of that divorce. Nicky married Vanessa in 2011. Now they have two sons and one daughter. Now it's also Vanessa's birthday. Yeah, except she's a lot younger. She was born Vanessa Manilo in the Philippines. She took his name. She's Vanessa in Lachey. She's 46. Now, her dad was in the Air Force. That's why she was born in the Philippines. Now, Vanessa, she was Miss Teen USA in 1998. She represented South Carolina. Now, she does some acting. She's been in all the NCIS shows. You know, what is there, like five different versions? There is. There's like, yeah. She does all those and everything. Now, what do you think would be more cool? Winning Miss Teen USA like Vanessa did or winning the Masked Singer like Nick did?

47:41 He was Mr. Piglet. Oh, I would say Miss Teen. I'm a girl through and through. I think I'm singing again. She had. All night long. Let me see that. Remember Cisco. Yes. I think everybody knows that song. For you young ones back there, see MTV, it was a station. I don't think it exists anymore. But see, they would actually play music videos. And that song was just girls wearing thongs. It was the greatest video ever shot. Well, Cisco, he's 48. He was born in Baltimore. He helped form Drew Hill in 1992. Now, Drew Hill, they're still together.

48:37 And they're actually out on tour right now. See, all their members, they go do their solo stuff. Then they come back and they tour as Drew Hill every couple of years. And they play Drew Hill stuff and he's a person solo stuff. How do you get the name Cisco? Well, see, he was a little kid. And in Baltimore, he lived in an all black neighborhood. But his light complexion and his really white hair, everybody thought he was Latino. Stayed with him ever since. He had a daughter from a girlfriend. Now him and his wife, they have a son. So we're going to have some resources so you can get a hold of Valerie here. So what would you like to tell veterans out there if they need some help? I don't know. It is never too late to reach out to somebody. And anybody, I always tell them when they do, that takes a lot of guts and strength to be able to reach out and say, I need help.

49:37 And I just want them to know like there's resources out there. There's people out there that, you know, that are willing to help you. And if you reach out a hand, we'll reach back. You know, it's almost harder to reach out for help than it is to try and suck it up. You know, it's funny you say that. There is so many resources out there. But when you're in like a psychosis or, you know, substance use or something like that, you know, you, your brain isn't a fog, you know, it's hard to find them. Um, so yeah. And, and especially for, you know, veterans and military, that's what we did. We sucked it up, you know, we didn't drop out packs. So it becomes, I'm a set second nature.

50:23 So, so if you're a family member, a friend, or you're a veteran and you see when someone's struggling, how can they, you get ahold of them to get out of that fog so you can actually help them help themselves. Well, and that's where all my traveling has, you know, has helped me. I've networked and built relationships with veterans and family members. And after I helped them, they tell other people and my, you know, just word of mouth and from meeting people at different, you know, networking events, coffee socials, conferences, you Um, and then of course I put my information out on, on the internet. So, and I let them know constantly, like I'm here. So all they have to do is, uh, my number is, is free for them to call. Like they, I don't care who it is, what time of day they can call me, email me, text me.

51:20 Um, and I'll respond. So there you go. You have no excuse not to get some easy for me to say, you don't really have an excuse. You got somebody right here. Answer the phone and say, Hey, let's go. Yes, absolutely. No judgment, no nothing. I'm just there. And sometimes they just need a, you know, a fellow veteran in the ear to listen. And that's what I'm there for. So yeah. Cool. I forget to talk about anything today. No, I think you, you nailed it. I just want people to know like what I do is free. It's it's there's, so I want them to call me. I want them to know that they, they can reach out and, you know.

52:11 Thank you for doing that. Yeah, no, thank you. So that's what you call it. 24 years of serving your country and now you're still doing it. Yeah. Um, still giving back as much as I can. You know, I don't need to have a uniform. I realized that to do what I do. Um, I have a good group of people that work with me and, and yeah. Cool. All right. Our quote of the day. We end with, let's end with actor Art Carney. You remember, you know who he is from the honeymooners? Yes. He died today in 2003 at 85 years old. Okay. Art says life is available to everyone, no matter what your age, all you have to do is grab it. Yeah.

52:57 All right. Thank you. I'll make sure you look at the show notes because we're going to connect you with Vanessa over there and you're going to, she'll help you out. Trust me. . Turn them into days. Go dancing in a field of pretty flowers.

53:41 Or any place. That we can't get away. Lay underneath the. Blanket of starlight. Just you and me and no one else around. Oh, I want you. To kiss me, babe. Like I'm the only girl in town. We'll be right back.

54:59 And spend this night just Like it was our last